My blog

On November 29, 1839 Joseph Smith went to the White House to meet with President Martin Van Buren. It had been a terrible stretch of years for the members of the new church in Missouri. They had been denied the right to vote, beaten in the streets, dragged out of their homes and killed despite surrendering. Certainly mobs were a problem, but even more egregious were abuses from the state militia, and from the police, because those were the people who should have protected the saints. Joseph Smith and several other church leaders had been wrongfully imprisoned for months on end. He met with the president with hope for relief but was sent home empty-handed. The saints tried to get justice through the court system and were denied. Joseph appealed to Van Buren a second time who rebuffed him with the words, "Your cause is just, but I cannot help you." ( historyisnow ) Five years later Joseph Smith was dead, murdered in police custody. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of La...

Handsome Bryce goes to work at an office, I stay home with our three kids. The main difference between our day jobs is the sympathy we get from others. Imagine you were talking to Bryce and he described his workplace like this: "Wow, today a guy at work just started screaming and crying because 'the milk is too cold.' When I suggested he should calm down he roared at me, like a bear. Later he peed all over the bathroom and clogged the toilet. When I was unclogging the toilet, for him, he laughed at me and told me my bum is big. I said, 'That's not very nice' and he yelled that I hurt his feelings and ran off to get in a slap fight with another coworker." If Bryce said this you would fall out of your chair in horror. You would say, "Holy Jalapenos! How do you survive working with such crazy people?" You would feel pretty much obligated to give him some kind of baked goods to try and salve the abuse he has to endure daily. But what do I get? "...

Our town recently got a shiny new Super Wal Mart, a much bigger, newer version of the dank dystopia that was our old Un-super Wal Mart. One thing you can always count on though, people abandoning random groceries in the check-out line . I think we have all been there. You are standing in the check-out line and you remember that you don't have unlimited money, metabolism, or space, and you can't buy everything. Decisions must be made. Here's how I imagine some of those decisions going down: Mom: "Where did these frogs come from?" Kid: "IWANNIT!" Mom: "No. Also are you done looking at that book? Because we aren't buying that either." I've been there. I figure letting my kid peruse a book I have no intention of buying is how the store purchases some peace for the general customer population. (Plus payback for strategically putting all the gum and candy where kids can grab it and I can't stop them.) "Oh look, they make chips out of...

Tis the season for elections and gorilla assasinations. People are suddenly vocal about feelings, mostly on Facebook and blogs. It is also a time of sharing articles that describe how you feel about issues. I love that Facebook and blogs let people connect, debate, and share ideas. I don't love that those same tools can alienate and insult your loved ones. So before you click "Share" and type, "YESSS THIS!!!!" or "I'm just going to leave this here..." ask yourself: Is this a straw man argument? A simple definition of a straw man comes from Wikipedia : "A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent." A simpler definition comes from me: "A straw man is an argument that attacks ideas that you claim your opponent has, but actually...they don't think those things at all...

A while back, there was a big stink about some fitness blogger lady who posted pictures of her super ripped body, her three kids, and the caption, "What's your excuse?" I don't really know what the deal was with all that because I mostly only read headlines. But I thought a bit about that headline. I don't have a super ripped body, I can think of a few excuses to explain why, but the thing is I don't actually feel like I need an excuse. I think it's great that this lady is super fit, that is her priority. I'm sure she does all kinds of great things with her family and job and makes time to work-out, but she doesn't do the same things that I do. I only workout in moderation because I need time to paint beautiful pictures, refinish furniture, read with my kids, read with my handsome husband, steam clean my floors, fix my TV, proofread essays, wash a hundred dishes, etc. They are not excuses, they are priorities. And thus, my "Theory of Constant ...

I had a plan to surprise Handsome Bryce for Valentine's Day. I wanted to redo our cool (but unfortunately peach/orange and green) bedroom. It turns out, that is kind of a time consuming project, especially with two little kids, so I bumped it to be an anniversary surprise instead. It also turns out that two little kids have totally reduced my ability to be sneaky, and I ended up leaving clues everywhere by accident. So Bryce got surprised by the plans and pieces, but not the finished product. You can still be surprised though! I'll post finished pictures as soon as I finish painting. Here is a sneak peek at my redecorating project: Blue Pug Sculpture I want our bedroom to be comfortable and pretty, but still look like a bedroom where a man lives. So I have been looking for decorations that are neither pointless hoarder-items, nor floofy frilly girl-stuff. I was pretty excited when I stumbled on these dog sculptures by White Faux Taxidermy , but they were a little out of my pric...

Imagine that nursing a baby was the same as giving the baby some food from behind a door. That is how I feel about pretty much every nursing bra or shirt.

A friend of mine recently wrote this blog post about " body shaming ". This is something I have been thinking about for a few weeks now, and reading the article has kind of crystallized some thoughts for me. I started thinking about it when I saw an article praising Kate Middleton for showing herself and her fully-clothed post-baby-belly to the world, like a day after she had her baby. Genevieve's article talked about negative comments, but I have started to notice more subtle shaming. I was struck by the negative message that was conveyed in praising the duchess. Someone whose body is not shameful does not have to be brave to be seen in public. Making a big deal about her post-baby-body, even in a supposedly positive way, actually suggests that she has something to be ashamed of. I have also paid more attention to messages about women on TV: I have paid particular attention to how pregnant women are represented on TV:  Not to mention that women in labor are apparently ho...

Yesterday I read this news article:   Many 'hipsters' abandoning backyard chickens .  The article talks about how raising your own chickens is falling in popularity, so animal shelters and open areas, like canyons, are filling up with unwanted chickens. One of the shelter workers is quoted saying, "Basically there's nowhere for these animals to go." Nowhere? NOWHERE? In other news, cupcake shelters are filling up with unwanted cupcakes from fad bakeries flagging in popularity. Barbara Hannigan, a shelter worker in Los Angeles, blames "foodies" saying, "These people are dropping off dozens of cupcakes a day at our shelters. We just don't have the facilities to care for so many cupcakes. No one has any ideas for what to do with all these abandoned cupcakes."

How much longer will people be saying "What's up?" as a greeting? If we could all agree to stop now, I would be grateful, because it is a greeting that I have never known how to respond to. In high school I would always answer by saying, "The sky." I pretended like it was a cheeky answer, but really it was just a coping mechanism to hide my awkward inability to respond. I no longer say, "The sky" because it is not actually as hilarious as I used to think. It is also sometimes misheard as, "This guy" which would sound kind of scandalous coming from a married lady. Abandoning the cheeky answer tactic has left me grasping for something to say in response. I understand "What's up?" to mean, "What's going on?" or even "What's wrong?" If it is used in reference to an object, like "What's up with ponytails?" I can handle it. In the context of a greeting however, it is too vague a question. I am...